Poetry Evening

Who’s in the Next Room?

CANCELLED

Poems by Thomas Hardy with new writing from Paul Hyland, Kate Scott, Catherine Simmonds & Pam Zinnemann-Hope

Four contemporary Dorset poets take Thomas Hardy’s electrifying verse as their starting point and juxtapose it with their own responses to his life, landscapes, fiction and poetry. The outcome of a National Trust residency as part of the Poetry Society’s centenary celebrations, the reading has been performed at venues ranging from Thomas Hardy’s house, Max Gate, the Bridport Literary Festival to Kings Place, London.

Tickets:

  • Standard Tickets | £10
  • DNHAS Members or The Thomas Hardy Society | £8
  • Opening hours:

    Daily: 9.00am - 4.30pm
    Sunday: 10.00am - 4.00pm
    Bank Holidays: 10.00am - 4.00pm

  • Dorset Museum

    High West Street
    Dorchester DT1 1XA

    View Map

Paul Hyland

 

Paul is a poet, travel writer and biographer, author of six travel books, the biography Ralegh’s Last Journey (HarperCollins), the guide Getting Into Poetry and seven poetry titles including Art of the Impossible, New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2004). Paul is an experienced reader of his work on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 and as writer-in-residence/and performer at literary events.

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Paul-Hyland.jpg

Kate Scott

 

Kate’s collection, Stitches, was published by Peterloo and her chapbook, Escaping the Cage, by HappenStance. Her poems and short fiction have been broadcast on Radio 4 and in the US. She is an award-winning author of 35 children’s books, and a children’s TV head writer, scriptwriter and story editor. Her plays have been performed at fringe venues in Salisbury and London.

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Kate-Scott.jpg

Catherine Simmonds

 

Catherine’s poetry has appeared in journals in the UK and USA. We Have Heard Ravens – her collection of prose poems drawn from the diaries of Dorothy Wordsworth (Flagon Press) became a performance with music composed by Virginia Astley. She collaborates with artist Rachel Sargent on exhibitions of poems and paintings, including Far West (Artmill Gallery, Plymouth, 2021) and Sanctuary, written during 2020 about a much loved local common.

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Catherine-Simmonds.jpg

Pam Zinnemann-Hope

 

Pam is a children’s author, librettist, playwright, and poet. On Cigarette Papers, her first collection, was short-listed for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and adapted by her for The Afternoon Play on Radio 4, in which she also acted. Foothold travels through the seasons and ecology in Thomas Hardy Territory. She is an experienced tutor and reader.

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Pam-Zinnemann-Hope.jpg

Reviews

‘One of the best poetry readings I have attended’

Daisy Goodwin,
Sunday Times

‘What a pleasure it was to hold the event with you…and to hear the wonderful poems which you have produced…the Who’s in the Next Room? show works brilliantly’

Graham Henderson,
Poet in the City,
King’s Place, London

‘It was an exceptional experience to sit in Thomas Hardy’s house and enjoy the skill of modern poets reading their work as it should be heard, sharing their talent and reaffirming the long literary tradition’

Peter Davies,
after a performance
at Max Gate

‘An evening of creative genius’

View from Dorchester,
Thomas Hardy Society Conference

‘Thank you all for producing such a perfect evening of poetry. You had the audience enthralled…It is a tribute to all your talents that the evening was sold out so rapidly’

Tanya Bruce-Lockhart, Director,
Bridport Literary Festival

Who’s in the Next Room?
by Thomas Hardy

 

“Who’s in the next room?–who?
I seemed to see
Somebody in the dawning passing through,
Unknown to me.”
“Nay: you saw nought. He passed invisibly.”

“Who’s in the next room?–who?
I seem to hear
Somebody muttering firm in a language new
That chills the ear.”
“No: you catch not his tongue who has entered there.”

“Who’s in the next room?–who?
I seem to feel
His breath like a clammy draught, as if it drew
From the Polar Wheel.”
“No: none who breathes at all does the door conceal.”

“Who’s in the next room?–who?
A figure wan
With a message to one in there of something due?
Shall I know him anon?”
“Yea he; and he brought such; and you’ll know him anon.”

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/dorset-museum-objects-thomas-hardy-Reginald-Grenville-Eves.jpg

Community Exhibition

18 February - 22 June 2023

The Art of Seeing: An exhibition of photographs by Dorchester Camera Club

The Club is delighted to have this opportunity to exhibit some of their members’ prints in the Dorset Museum together with an audio-visual presentation.

Find out more

Special Exhibition

22 March - 25 June 2023

ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois

Explore the work of Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the most important figures of modern and contemporary art. This spring Dorset Museum will show a major presentation of her work in this ARTIST ROOMS touring exhibition featuring works jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Find out more

Special Display

29 March - 9 July 2023

PJ Harvey – Orlam

Dorset Museum is now displaying an archive of material relating to PJ Harvey’s verse novel Orlam.

Find out more

Tours

10 June 2023, 10:00am - 12:00noon

Roman Town House Tours

A guided tour of one of the best examples of a Roman Town House in England.

Find out more

Tours

17 June 2023, 10:00am - 12:00noon

Roman Town House Tours

A guided tour of one of the best examples of a Roman Town House in England.

Find out more

Tours

21 June 2023, 2:00pm - 2:45pm

Collections Discovery Centre Tour

Join our Collections Team for an opportunity to explore behind the scenes in the Museum’s Collections Discovery Centre.

Find out more

Museum after hours

22 June 2023, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

FREE | Museum After Hours

Join us for an opportunity to explore the Museum at this FREE late opening.

Find out more

Lecture

22 June 2023, 7:00pm - 8:30pm

ORIGINS: How the Earth Shaped Human History | Professor Lewis Dartnell

By taking us through millennia of human history, and billions of years into our planet’s past, Professor Lewis Dartnell tells us the ultimate origin story.

Find out more

Tours

24 June 2023, 10:00am - 12:00noon

Roman Town House Tours

A guided tour of one of the best examples of a Roman Town House in England.

Find out more